Zadarski Maraschino

The Dominican monks started to produce Maraschino in the 16th century, and it was originally used as a medicine. Later, Maraschino became one of the most famous products of Zadar and Croatia. It has remained recognized to this day as an excellent liqueur made of an authentic Dalmatian type of cherry, the Marasca cherry.

It carries the label ”Originally Croatian”.

LOADING IN CITY PORT

Through five centuries of tradition of Maraschino in Zadar, this unique liqueur has experienced an amazing transformation from family and manufacturing production in the very beginnings to the largest industry in Zadar, which formed the basis of economic activity. In its most propulsive period, in the 19th century, Zadar liqueur industry produced more than 400,000 bottles of liqueur a year, with two-thirds came off to Maraschino.

KNITTING

This liqueur originating from Zadar was then exported with great success to Vienna, Paris, St. Petersburg, London, Berlin, Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Naples, Genoa, Milan, Istanbul and cities in Switzerland, France and Belgium. It was later exported to the United States, Canada, Australia, and many other countries.

In 1840., Francesco Drioli introduced a unique technique of bottles of maraschino hand knitting, which has retained in its original form to the present day, and it creates a distinctive visual identity of the product, unique in the world.

In 1871., Queen Victoria of England withdrew warships from the Mediterranean in order to board Maraschino for the UK court.

1887., the British heir to the throne, the Prince of Wales (later King George V), visited Zadar liqueur factories, where he had left a large order of maraschino, in his words "The king of all liqueurs."

The famous French writer Honore de Balzac mentioned Maraschino in his novel “Un debut dans la vie.” “It was in that city where Maraschino is produced. I was there. It’s on the coast …”

With his epithet ”The king of all liqueurs,” Maraschino gained worldwide fame, and many celebrities enjoyed its taste and flavor: Alfred Hitchcock, G. B. Shaw, Charles Baudelaire, Ernest Hemingway, Orson Welles, Charlie Chaplin, and many others. In the list of stocks of Titanic, luxurious passenger ship that sunk, a large amount of Maraschino was found.